[FC] BEWARE!! of Stupid $@#%ing Chinese brake drums....Mostly ranting...and some cursing.

[Andy .]

I have (2) Bendix drums that I bought 10-15 years ago because they were on sale, overstock or something.  But I will never use them.  They are brand new in boxes.  The boxes are stamped "Made in USA" 
 
If you are still in the market for a set I can take them to UPS in the morning and you could have them by Tuesday.
 
Price is CHEAP.
 
Also have a brand new in the box dual master cylinder kit for an FC (from "TheSource") if you or anyone else is interested.  Cheap as well  (can't remember what they go for)
 
Andy
 
  
 
   
 

> Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:15:57 -0800
> From: andrew_sego at yahoo.com
> To: corvanatics at corvair.org
> Subject: [FC] BEWARE!! of Stupid $@#%ing Chinese brake drums....Mostly ranting...and some cursing.
> 
> I'm just about finished up with my front suspension swap project.  Earlier in the summer I went thru the braking system.  I replaced the shoes and hardware, turned the drums, and rebuilt the wheel and master cylinders.  I've had an eerratic grabby right front brake problem since then.  I've diagnosed it as a combination of drums that are larger than the shoes (shoes not arc'd) and hard spots in the right front drum.  Since I've rebuilt or replaced everything in the suspension and steering system I decided that it would be a good time to replace the drums and the wheel cylinders. The cylinders have been working okay, I've have no leaks, but the bores were frankly a on the borderline of being too large when I honed and rebuilt them.  There was some minor pitting.
>  
> So I bought replacement parts from NAPA.  Wheel cylinders were made in Italy.  The drums were made in China.  The bleeder screws in the wheel cylinders are 3/8 fine thread, but the heads are 10mm.  Bastards. Since I'd rather not use a metric wrench on my Chevy van I replace them with ones that have 3/8" heads.  Mark that down as one problem that is easily solved.  
>  
> Now for the not so easy problem:
> I take the drums and begin to punch out the knock out slots for adjusting the brakes. They're not budging.  After several smart whacks I can see that the wheel flange of the drum is starting to bend a bit.  So I decide to drill out the slot.  After drilling a hole and flipping the drum over several times I can see than the punched in oval is offset more than 1/4".  I drill another hole on the other end of the slot.  Now I take the punch and try to knock out the area between the holes.  No dice.  It looks like the oval area might not even be punched rather it may just be a cast in line.  I take the drums back to the store and explain the situation. The manager of the store tries to punch out the lanced area in the other drum for me (luckily I bought a 3# hammer and a punch.)  The drum cracks from all his pounding but the knockout doesn't budge!  They offer to exchange them but I'd rather try somewhere else.  They give me a refund without a
> fuss.  
>  
> I order some news ones from O'Reilly. Go in to pick them up tonight only the find that they are from the exact same manufacturer but reboxed.  Advanced Auto Parts had the same drums.  I'd happily buy some from Clark's, pay for shipping, and then wait 5 days to get them, but I'm afraid I'll get the same parts.  Their website even says if they are out of stock they can usually get them in stock in a couple of days...which leads me to believe they're buying the same junk that I am.  Surely I can't be the first person to fail at knocking these slots out...can I?
>  
> One other thing that I've noticed is the drums seems to not be of the general quality that I'd expect.  The balancing weight that is welded on all these drums are huge compared all the GM drums I have seen.  It makes me wonder how precisely these things are cast or machined. 
>  
> So now I suppose I'm going to get another pair from the local chain store and drill out and dremel out some slots instead of wasting any more time beating on these POS's.  I'm sure I'm asking a dumb question here, but does anyone know of a company that still makes brake drums in the USA? 
>  
> I think the price of NOS drums just went up.
> -Andrew
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